The annual Teaching and Research Excellence Awards celebrates the achievements of outstanding educators and researchers within the SMU community. The event celebrates the spirit of excellence behind their achievements.

This year, the event was co-organised by the Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) and the Office of Research (ORe). More than 120 faculty members, staff and students attended the celebration held on 20 September 2013 at the Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium, SMU.
 

Professor Rajendra Srivastava SMU Provost and Deputy President of Academic Affairs

In his welcome speech, Professor Rajendra Srivastava, SMU Provost and Deputy President of Academic Affairs extolled SMU faculty members who have committed themselves in taking the University at the next level.  Their achievements have been proven with the increasing number of competitive research grants secured and acknowledgement of SMU’s high quality teaching commitment.
 

Professor Arnoud De Meyer SMU President

SMU President Arnoud De Meyer said in his speech that SMU has achieved great impact in its areas of excellence over the years. SMU is moving a step closer in expanding its global footprint with excellence in both research and teaching. He emphasised that every faculty member at SMU has an important role in helping the university to raise its international reputation and profile.

His speech closed with a key takeaway from the recent State of University Address saying, “We should all work together to make SMU a University that aspires for excellence and at the same time, we should inspire each other and ourselves to do extraordinary things, imbuing SMU’s ‘want something, do something’ culture.”

The Research Excellence Awards honours and recognises exemplary individuals who have demonstrated excellence in their area of work.

ORe approached some of the research award recipients who shared with us their passion for research as well as their research contributions.
 

Lee Kuan Yew Fellow for Research Excellence, Cheng Qiang Professor of Accounting School of Accountancy

Lee Kuan Yew Fellow for Research Excellence, Cheng Qiang

“It is the basic curiosity that drives me to conduct research. I am constantly interested in real world phenomenon and current issues and would like to understand the related issues and find answers to my own questions,” said Professor Cheng Qiang, Lee Kuan Yew Fellow for Research Excellence from School of Accountancy.

His paper on the impact of stock-based compensation on corporate reporting is most frequently cited paper that documents that CEOs with high equity incentives, usually resulted from stock and option grants, can lead CEOs to be myopic and engage in earnings management. It is one of the first papers that establish the potential problem of stock or options grants.
 

Della Suantio Fellow for Research Excellence, Bussarawan Puk Teerawichitchainan Assistant Professor of Sociology School of Social Sciences

Della Suantio Fellow for Research Excellence, Bussarawan Puk Teerawichitchainan

Assistant Professor Bussarawan Puk Teerawichitchianan, Della Suantio Fellow for Research Excellence from School of Social Sciences, shared that the potential theoretical and empirical contributions as well as policy implications of her research excite her to pursue two separate, yet somewhat related research areas. One, family intergenerational exchanges, health and well-being in Southeast Asia, and two, war and military service in the life course in Vietnam. In collaboration with colleagues in the United States, she is currently investigating mechanisms linking war exposure in the early life course to various dimensions of health outcomes in late adulthood in the context of Vietnam.
 

Sing Lun Fellow for Research Excellence, Christopher Chen Chao-hung Assistant Professor of Law School of Law

Sing Lun Fellow for Research Excellence, Christopher Chen Chao-hung

“To me, conducting research is like a self-fulfilling exercise. The more I research, the less I realise I know.  What excites me a lot from research is to know better the world, human beings, and their interactions from different perspectives,” shared Assistant Professor Christopher Chen Chao-hung, a Sing Lun Fellow for Research Excellence from School of Law.

Assistant Professor Chen has contributed in improving mutual understanding of laws between major economies in East and Southeast Asia. This contribution may help to establish the identity of Asian Law, compared with developments in Europe and North America. He is currently working on a number of projects. For instance, he is currently studying the legal issues flowing from new regulatory regimes for over-the-counter derivatives and financial consumer protection rules in Asia, notably in Singapore and the Greater China area.
 

Sing Lun Fellow for Research Excellence, Wang Rong Assistant Professor of Finance, Lee Kong Chian School of Finance

Sing Lun Fellow for Research Excellence, Wang Rong

Assistant Professor Wang Rong, a Sing Lun Fellow for Research Excellence from SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business describes research as a ‘constant discovery of new knowledge’. As a researcher, she has made three major contributions. First, her research devises a new model to value corporate cash holdings, which is now widely used by many. Second, a new search feature to the existing agency model to study executive compensation was introduced. Third, Assistant Professor Wang and her co-authors are the first to study industry recommendations issued by strategy analysts and examine the benchmarks used by analysts.

Congratulations to all award winners and nominees of the various research awards!
 

SMU Research Excellence Awards

There are six categories in the SMU Research Excellence Awards.

The Lee Kuan Yew Fellowship for Research Excellence award recognises outstanding SMU faculty members for their research performance in the previous year.

David Chan Professor of Psychology School of Social Sciences		Cheng Qiang Professor of Accounting School of Accountancy

The Sing Lun Fellowship award recognises a promising junior faculty member for purpose of conducting academic and industry relevant research with focus on Asian business issues.

Christopher Chen Chao-Hung Assistant Professor of Law School of Law		Wang Rong Assistant Professor of Finance Lee Kong Chian School of Business

The two fellowship awards, Della Suantio Fellowship and D. S. Lee Foundation Fellowship, recognises outstanding research potential among junior faculty members for purpose of conducting academic- and industry-relevant research that is crucial to improving the understanding of business.

Huang Fali Associate Professor of Economics School of Economics		Bussarawan ‘Puk’ Teerawichitchainan Assistant Professor of Sociology School of Social Sciences

The Keppel Professorship in Financial Economics recognises individuals who has demonstrated an exceptional level of achievement in research and scholarship in financial economics and has genuine interest with economic policies in Singapore and the region.

Peter C. B. Phillips Distinguished Term Professor of Economics Sim Kee Boon Institute of Financial Economics (SKBI)

The OUB Professorial Chair of Quantitative Finance recognises individuals with distinguished scholarship in teaching, research and publications.

Lim Kian Guan Professor of Quantitative Finance Lee Kong Chian School of Business

The Yong Pung How Professorship of Law recognises an eminent legal researcher who has distinguished himself or herself in the legal profession.

Yeo Tiong Min Professor of Law School of Law